Between 7 and 9 October 2025, SERI's Thato Masiangoako, Nolwazi Mahlangu, and Nokhetho Mhlanga participated in the 'Land, Life, and Society' international conference' organised and hosted by the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town. The conference brought together scholars, practitioners, policymakers, activists, allies, and students from around the world to draw attention to the urgent challenges of land and agrarian reform in various parts of the world, but with a special focus on countries of the global south. Thato, Nolwazi, and Nokhetho all presented papers that drew on SERI's work with farmworkers in the Cape Winelands and on SERI's Women's Spaces project, which looks at women's access to land and housing.
Thato Masiangoako presented a paper co-authored with SERI's Thulani Nkosi on SERI's experiences of litigating labour disputes on behalf of the Commercial Stevedoring Agricultural and Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU) emanating from farms in the Cape Winelands. She argued, based on analysis of three cases, that litigation on its own is not adequate in the specific context in which law can be weaponised against farmworkers and farm dwellers, and often is used to preserve privilege.
Nolwazi Mahlangu presented a paper co-authored by former intern Margeaux Wassenaar on how evictions and sales in execution are symptoms of systemic failure in South Africa's formal property system. Against the backdrop of 60% of South Africans living outside the formal property system, through informal settlements, backyard dwellings, or untitled occupation, Mahlangu argued that the existing property system deepens exclusion, as land redistribution has stalled and legal protections are inconsistently enforced.
Nokhetho Mhlanga presented a paper co-authored with SERI's Lungelo Mncwabe and Asenati Tukela on farm evictions and the particular vulnerabilities of women facing evictions. She argued that women face disproportionate risks as they are often excluded from formal housing contracts, exposed to gender-based violence, and subject to broader forms of social marginalisation.
One of the outputs of the conference is the Cape Town Declaration, which emerged based on the presentations and deliberations from the three-day conference and will be taken to the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD+20) conference.
- More information about the conference can be accessed here.